Honolulu police officer critically injured in Makaha crash

A Honolulu police officer is in critical condition and a man arrested on suspicion of drunk driving after a three-vehicle collision in Makaha.

The crash happened around 11:20 p.m. Friday.

Police say a Mercedes was heading toward Kaena Point on Farrington Hwy. near Water St. when it slammed into the back of the officer's vehicle, which was traveling in the same direction.

Police and witnesses said the Mercedes was speeding when it rear-ended the officer's Toyota 4Runner. The Toyota crashed through a hollow-tile wall and ended up in the yard of a home at the corner of Farrington and Kapakai Place.

Four men who were in a nearby house ran over to try to help. They said they rolled the police officer's vehicle until it was upright and then tried to help the officer.

"He was unconscious. He was all like twisted up. He was like in the back seat, the third row seat," said area resident Kimo Proff.

Proff also said the officer didn't have his emergency lights and siren on at the time of the collision. "No siren. Nothing. I don't think he was even wearing his seat belt because he was in the back."

Police after the initial collision the Mercedes hit a pickup truck which was headed in the town bound direction. "There's a pickup truck with seven kids, a mom and a father, homeless," said Clevis Mahi, another of the four men who went to help. "They was living in the truck. I guess they was just coming from the beach."

Mahi said a four-year-old boy had a cut on his head, but everyone else in the pickup appeared to be unhurt. Emergency officials said the boy was taken to the hospital in stable condition.

Mahi said there were two people in the Mercedes. "The driver was responsive. But the passenger wasn't. She had one gash in her head," he said. "The dashboard was all into her, like her legs and everything."

Officers arrested the driver of the Mercedes, identified as a 33-year-old Waianae man, on suspicion of drunk driving. He and his female passenger also were taken to the hospital with what police called non-life threatening injuries.

The police officer was taken to The Queen's Medical Center in critical condition.